JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Hundreds, if not thousands of pieces of history are sitting at a Jacksonville recycling facility.
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Old seats from EverBank Stadium are in an extremely tall pile at Big Iron Recycling on West Beaver Street as renovations to the $1.4 Billion “Stadium of the Future” are underway for the Jaguars.
Ernie Taylor is the president and owner of the facility that has been in operation for more than 20 years.
His son-in-law worked out a deal with Waste Pro, who was contracted to take the seats.
“They brought them here by truck [about one month ago],” Taylor said. “I would say probably, I am guessing probably 50 or maybe 75 loads or maybe even more.”
The seats had been there since the Jaguars came to Jacksonville in 1995.
“I thought it was great to be involved with something like this,” Taylor said. “It is the Jaguars. Our team. Our home team.”
Taylor said it will take workers at the recycling plant at least another month to clear all the old seats out. He explained what will happen to them.
“They bring them in, we separate the plastic off of them,” Taylor said. “We sent the plastic to a plastic recycler and the metal on it, the pieces of metal on it go to the mill. A steel mill. The plastic goes down to Orlando to a recycler. The metal goes to a company called Commercial Metals Company (CMC) here in Jacksonville.”
If you thought you would be allowed to come to Big Iron Recycling to claim one of the chairs or a piece of one, the answer is no.
“People have found out that they are here,” Taylor said. “They come by. They want some seats to remember it by. To have a piece of the past and their possession. All kinds of reactions.”
The Stadium of the Future is on pace to be completed by the 2028 season.
“I am just glad to see it growing and I love to see our Jaguars doing the job that they are doing,” Taylor said. “They are doing a great job. In the past, it didn’t look so good. But it looks great now. The future looks great.”
It was just announced this week that the Jags will play in Orlando during the 2027 season for their “home games.”
For the 2026 season, they are playing at EverBank Stadium which will be at a limited capacity.